Devil May Care
by Vladimir Popov
Summary: Danny arrives at HQ looking like crap. Can the team figure out what is wrong?


Danny Williams was not in a good mood. That wasn't hard to tell.

Danny checked his watch as he was about to leave for work and silently cursed. At the least he was going to be half an hour late. If he had a valid excuse, maybe his team would leave him alone but at the moment, he could not think of a pliable excuse. His father had taught him that honesty was the best policy but right now, that didn't seem to be true. First off they wouldn't understand and second off, they would probably laugh in his face because of the first reason. Anyways, he scoured his brain for an excuse as he arrived in the parking lot.

* * *

'Hey boss, has Danny come in yet?' asked Kono as she relaxed onto McGarrett's couch.

'Not yet. I called his cell and he said that he had some business to attend to and was going to be a few minutes late.' answered Steve.

'What did he say it was about?'

'He didn't say but he sounded exhausted.'

'I hope it wasn't about-' Kono stopped as she and Steve both heard the outer doors open. They rushed out of the office and saw Danny. Or at least they thought it was. He looked like crap; his hair stuck out in every direction and dark circles were under his eyes. Instead of his usual button down and slacks, he had on a pair of jeans and a white shirt full of stains. 'Danny, are you okay?' asked Kono. She had rushed over to Danny and put a comforting hand over his shoulder. She didn't know what to think but she was worried.

'Yeah I'm fine.' Danny replied, brushing Kono off. He side-stepped her easily as he made his way to his office.

Before either Steve or Kono could say something to their colleague, Steve's phone began to ring.

'McGarrett. Got it.'

* * *

Steve was worried about his partner. For the entire drive to the crime scene, Danny hadn't said a word. If it was a regular day, he would have thanked the gods but today was not a regular day. Danny was facing the passenger window and hadn't even moved that much. Steve was tempted just to shake his partner, snapping him out of whatever thing he was in.

'Danny, what's wrong?' he finally asked.

'Hmm?' moaned Danny, 'Go away.'

Steve expertly pulled the Camaro onto the shoulder. He unbuckled his seatbelt and turned around to face Danny. 'Danny, I'm not leaving until you tell me what's going on.' he stated. It was then he noticed that his partner had his eyes closed and seemed to be sleeping. He gently shook his shoulder until the blue eyes opened.

'What, can't a man get a decent night's sleep anymore?' asked Danny as he rubbed the tiredness out of his eyes.

'Danny, what's wrong?'

'Nothing! I'm perfectly fine!' he countered, facing his partner.

'We both know that was a horrible attempt at a lie. Come on you can tell me. Is it about Grace, Rachael?' asked Steve.

'No it isn't.'

'Then what is it?'

'Sports.' Danny sighed. He knew his partner was going to find out one way or another. He might as well tell him.

'Sports?' questioned Steve.

'Yeah sports. I spent the whole night watching sports.'

'Danny, it's the middle of June. The playoffs are over. So why did you stay up all night?' asked Steve. He knew Danny loved watching sports but it was the middle of June. NFL and MLB playoffs had ended meaning there was no reason to stay up all night watching sports.

'It was the Stanley Cup Finals.' Danny looked at his partner and saw pure confusion on his face. 'You know, NHL?'

Steve couldn't help but feel like an idiot. Whatever the NHL was, it meant a lot to Danny and he didn't know anything about it.

'Don't tell me you don't know what that is.' Danny sighed. There was another reason why he hated Hawaii. He would have to start writing these things down. 'Hockey, Steve hockey! The NHL is the National Hockey League. Please say that you at least know what hockey is.'

'Yes, I know what hockey is.' Steve never watched hockey as a child. It was only a few years ago when he had went hiking in British Columbia, he had watched a hockey game. He had met a local girl and she had convinced him to go to a game with her. Even though everyone else seemed to be excited about it, he would have rather watched football.

'Well it was the finals, the New Jersey Devils against the Los Angeles Kings. Best out of seven. It was game 6 and the Devils were losing 2-3 in the series.'

'Did they win?'

'No. They lost 6-1. That meant the Kings won the Stanley Cup.'

'Oh. But that was just one game so how did you end up staying up for the whole night?' asked Steve.

'I watched every game in the series.'

'Wait, isn't that…'

'…16 hours of hockey.' Danny filled in, 'I went to sleep at 7 o'clock.'

'Why?'

'I had a problem with the television provider so I couldn't watch the games until yesterday.'

'So you watched all of them at once?'

'Yeah.'

For a few moments there was silence but it was quickly broken by McGarrett's phone.

'McGarrett.'

_'Steve where are you?'_

Steve mentally smacked himself for forgetting about the crime scene he and Danny were supposed to go to. 'Yeah, Kono we just ran into a quick detour. We'll be there in ten.'

**The End**

* * *

I have no knowledge whatsoever about the NFL or MLB. So, I probably made some mistakes.


End file.
